Friday, 24 December 2010

Even though it's -5 degrees outside, our household is well on the way to enjoying a very merry Christmas. I'm not meeting up with my gaming pals until the 30th, so in the meantime, I thought I'd share a couple of OSR approved non-gaming reviews.

Although I'm not normally a beer drinker, at Christmas I usually make an exception. Here's a cross-section of winter warmers. I know the OSR is just small niche of a few thousand players, but clearly the beer marketeers are blissfully unaware of that. Look at these bottles - they scream old school.

I didn't think much of the Green Goblin cider; I'm guessing that it's probably a 'me too' product cashing in on the olde worlde goblin pictures to sell drinks to immature 40somethings (that would be me then). Doom Bar was my favourite, but I think it's more a drink to be enjoyed in a Cornish beer garden, a stone's throw from the brewery. Dark Lord is a dark ruby beer which, for me, was just a bit too malty and treacly. So that makes my top choice for Christmas beer, Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin Ruby Beer. It has a very pleasing taste pretty much slap in the middle of the other two beers.

What better way to accompany a warming flagon of beer than some traditional Christmas music. Our house normally awakes on Christmas morning to Mario Lanza's joyful tenor, belting out timeless Carols. For Christmas Eve, I've added a couple of albums to our server that offer new and varied takes on traditional English Carols.

Monday, 20 December 2010

I intended to publish Issue 5 of Oubliette just in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, the Unusually harsh early winter weather, an unexpected trip to London and several family members becoming quite ill with a nasty dose of flu, have all conspired to prevent me from completing the magazine with my usual gusto. Rather than present an inferior issue next week, I am going to delay realeasing it until the end of January. It will be worth the wait though as I'll have a nice surprise to announce with it.